


weak without a sword (stronger)

by theriveroflight



Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: Akumatized Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Angst, Black Cat Luka Couffaine, Fox Alya Césaire | Rena Rouge, Kwami Swap, LBSC Sprint Fic Challenge, Ladybug Juleka Couffaine, Mouse Rose Lavilliant, Multi, No character bashing, Snake Adrien Agreste | Aspik, Truth Spells, implied Luka Couffaine/Adrien Agreste/Marinette Dupain-Cheng
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-01-18
Updated: 2021-02-08
Packaged: 2021-03-16 19:35:39
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,780
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28836423
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/theriveroflight/pseuds/theriveroflight
Summary: Luka knows that everyone has emotions. And Marinette has been strong for so long.
Relationships: Adrien Agreste | Chat Noir & Luka Couffaine, Juleka Couffaine & Luka Couffaine, Juleka Couffaine/Rose Lavillant, Luka Couffaine & Rose Lavillant, Minor or Background Relationship(s)
Comments: 16
Kudos: 35





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Written for the prompt on the LBSC Sprint fic challenge of Ladybug Juleka and Black Cat Luka.
> 
> Title from that one Ava Max song.
> 
> Romantic relationships are mostly implied - I think this qualifies as Gen, but there is mentions of Luka having romantic feelings for both Marinette and Adrien, as tribute to my original idea for this prompt, which was much much fluffier.

Luka honestly doesn’t know  _ how,  _ really. Marinette is one of the most positive people he knows, but everyone can be akumatized.

And she bears a certain righteous fury in her form, and he needs to  _ run  _ and find somewhere to transform before it’s too late.

Ladybug/Juleka is already on the field, a blaze of black and red against the other akumas out there. But Marinette is the most powerful of them all, and he needs to support his partner out there.

“So, your lady love has been akumatized, huh?”

“Unfortunately,” he answers dryly. “And…” He doesn’t  _ want  _ to deny it. Really. But feelings are Difficult and it seems he has a lot of them. “Plagg, claws out.”

The kwami is sucked into his ring, and he’s Chat Chevalier again.

He hops out into the field.

“Marinette,” he whispers, “what has he done to you?”

What sort of manipulation has he made of Marinette? What kind of akuma will she be?

Now he understands a little bit of Ladybug’s hesitation when fighting Princess Fragrance.

(He hopes Adrien and Marinette are never akumatized at the same time, because he would not fight them, he would not even  _ try  _ to fight them, they could make him give up.)

“Alright, Ladybug,” he says. “What are we doing?”

“Go grab some help. I’ll be okay,” she says. “We’ve fought many of them already.”

“Except the two heads.”

“Right,” Juleka answers. “Come back with someone, at least.”

He runs. The Guardian picked him as the protege — probably due to his age compared to his sister, but he isn’t quite sure.

(Identities were an accident, but really, the Guardian should have known better than to pick a pair of siblings.)

“What do you need?” he asks Luka.

He hovers over the box, eventually grabbing the Fox and Snake Miraculous. “I think these are what we’ll need.”

“Perhaps maybe some more time would be of use?” he asks, holding out the stopwatch.

He’s met the Rabbit of the future. One of Juleka’s classmates.

Luka ultimately grabs the Mouse. He doesn’t take the stopwatch. “We’ll need as many hands on deck as possible.”

“Excellent,” the Guardian responds. “Best of luck.”

He has a plan.

Adrien first.

He finds Adrien brandishing a makeshift weapon — an umbrella — against an akumatized opponent. Dark Owl?

The red butterflies pollute the air.

Juleka hasn’t said exactly what happened. But he can assume that something momentous happened, and Marinette was  _ set up  _ by Hawk Moth.

“Adrien!” he cries, and swings out his baton, extended a bit. It hits Dark Owl in the head, knocking the akuma out cold. He can’t remember where the object was, shoot… 

“Nice shot,” Adrien responds. “What’s wrong?”

“Don’t…okay, I’m about to be a hypocrite, but you shouldn't put yourself in danger like this. Not when you don’t have anything to protect yourself with.” He pulls Adrien into the alley. Adrien doesn’t know. Adrien doesn’t know the magnitude of his love, why Luka would seek to protect him.

“What are you offering me?”

“A way to protect yourself.” He holds out the box. “Adrien, will you reprise the role of the Snake Miraculous Holder?”

“I will,” Adrien answers, and it sounds almost like a promise. Adrien opens the box and takes out the bracelet, sliding it onto his wrist. “Sass, scales slither!”

“Let’s go.”

“Shouldn’t we deakumatize him first?”

Luka curses and opens up his baton to call Juleka. “Akuma down, need you to purify,” he says when she picks up.

“Where are you?” Her voice is tinny but stressed over the phone.

“There should be a locator with our Miraculous,” he responds, “but we’re near the movie theater?”

“Be right there.” A beep marks the end of the call.

“Adrien, you stay. I still have a couple others that I want to find,” he says.

First, Rose. If she isn’t akumatized, well…she’ll take well to the Mouse, he thinks.

And then the Fox will go to Bridgette, one of his friends. He thinks she’ll be good for it. The last time it was used Juleka recruited her, and he doesn’t know her identity. While he’d prefer to have experience on his side, considering most of the akumas have wielded their power before, he doesn’t think that’s possible.

He finds Marinette before any of them.

“Chevalier,” she says. “A knight to the lady.”

“She doesn’t need me to protect her,” he responds, brandishing his baton and tucking the boxes back into his pocket. “And neither do you.”

“What makes you think that you can protect me?” she says. “You’ve already failed. So many people failed to save me. Failed to believe me.”

“I believe you, Marinette.”

“It’s  _ Princess Justice  _ to you, knight. You do not deserve to know me by my name.”

She holds out her sword. The blindfold seemingly gives her a disadvantage, but he suspects that she has other powers hiding behind.

Justice is blind, after all.

“Okay,” he responds. “I don’t want to hurt you.”

“You’ll have to,” she answers. “Tell me the truth.” And a bolt fires from her sword. He dives out of its way, and uses a wall to flip above her and get onto a roof to run.

“You can’t run forever,” she responds. “I will weed out each and every one of your helpers, right down to your sister.”

Paris doesn’t know whether the brother/sister thing is legitimate biological or just found, but that doesn’t matter in any case.

Marinette doesn’t sound angry, though. Just cold, and the chill in her voice is almost  _ worse  _ than anger. He understands anger more than he understands the chill.

But first, Rose. Or Bridgette, whoever he finds first.

He spots Rose through a window, running from…Reverser, it seems. Luka hops in through the window, with the deafening shatter of glass.

“Chat?” Rose asks. “What are you doing here?”

He dodges a plane from Reverser and claws the bottom of the plane, shredding it enough for the butterfly to come out. Reverser is a bad fight, and he doesn’t think that the person behind it will get akumatized again.

“Rescuing you,” he responds. “Ladybug is…otherwise occupied.”

“I was hoping for her,” he hears Rose mutter.

“Um. What happened?”

“It’s okay,” Luka says. “Find somewhere safe. I’ll bring Rose with me.”

“Wouldn’t it be—” Luka drags her away before she can finish.

“I need your help,” he whispers, and hands her the Miraculous. “This is the Miraculous of the Mouse. It lets you multiply. We need all hands on deck. Help us?”

“Of course,” she answers, and opens the box. “What…”

“Just say ‘Mullo, get squeaky,’” the kwami says.

“Mullo, get squeaky?”

“Alright,” he says. “Let’s go.”

He pulls up the locator. “This is where the others are. Join one of them — there are a lot of people to be fighting. I have one more recruit to find.”

And then he bumps into someone he doesn’t know all that well. The Ladyblogger. “Marinette is my best friend. I need to help her.”

“Turn off your camera,” he says, trying not to be overly rude about it. “I suppose I can offer you something.”

He pulls her aside and withdraws the box holding the Fox Miraculous. “Alright,” he says. “Here you go. Return this to me after it all.”

“I know. Ladybug recruited me last time.”

He nods. Okay. This is Rena Rouge, then. “I need to rendezvous with Ladybug. Come join us when you can.”

“I will,” she says. “See you soon.”

“Okay.” Luka springs back to action when he spots Queen Verity and Marinette.

Oh. Adrien and Juleka and Rose are already there.

He lands next to them. “Got everyone. Including someone I wasn’t expecting to find.”

Juleka snatches another butterfly. “Good.”

“How many are left?” he asks.

“The Princess and Queen,” Adrien answers, “and a few others. I heard you got Reverser?”

“I did. He’s safe, wherever he may be.”

“Okay.” Juleka takes a deep breath. “We have to face them now. And we have to find Scarlet Moth and Catalyst, wherever they may be.”

“Now, how are we going to do that?” Adrien asks.

“I don’t know,” Luka responds. Rena lands next to them.

“Greetings,” she says, tilting her head. “I’m here for my friend. Marinette…well, not to give too much away, but we’re fairly close. And I want her to be safe.”

“Okay, team,” Luka says. “Let’s go.”

Adrien, Rena, and himself exchange a look. They'll all do whatever it takes to deakumatize Marinette — and perhaps even bring down their greatest enemy.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> And then Juleka remembers — bolt of lightning.
> 
> Sometimes, the best approach is simply the most direct.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If you notice the tag updates...yeah. There was so much Julerose in this chapter I couldn't call it "implied" anymore. Tags have been updated accordingly.
> 
> CWs: threatened violence, Marinette says something salty to Luka

Juleka looks over at her team. They’ve managed to get more of the akumas down, but in the grand scheme of things it isn’t enough. And if any of them are hit by Princess Justice or Queen Verity, they’ll end up confessing things they don’t want to.

Juleka honestly couldn’t care less about her secret identity. Nobody knows who the heck Juleka Couffaine is. They might know her brother, but they don’t know her. After all, bassists aren’t usually the most famous of all the band members. But there certainly are some things Juleka doesn’t want getting out.

She looks over at Rose, wielding the Mouse Miraculous for the day.

No matter how much being Ladybug has improved her confidence, she still doesn’t have the nerve to confess to Rose. Not that it’s even on the table right now — battle confessions are not the way to go. They’re fighting a bunch of akumas, so she shouldn’t be thinking, she should just be  _ moving…  _

But when she focuses, well, the look of scarlet butterflies and the people they akumatized isn’t what’s on her mind.

It’s Rose, swinging her jump rope, looking like a professional despite it only just being her first time using any Miraculous.

“Ladybug, Ladybug.” She turns to see Princess Justice, lurking behind her in her distraction. “Why aren’t you flying back home?”

“Not until I get that butterfly out of your head,” Juleka breathes in return. She knows the danger she’s in, the tip of Princess Justice’s sword at her throat, pinning her in inaction. She suspects she would be taller than the akuma if she weren’t wearing heels, but her chin is tilted up so that if Princess Justice weren’t blindfolded they could make eye contact. “Not until my job is done.”

“Oh, but soon you won’t be able to do it,” Princess Justice croons, and it somehow sounds more eerie than before. “Speak.”

She feels as though a bolt of lightning is coursing through her veins as the magic courses through her. With the sword as the channel of power, and Juleka being in the position she’s in, she’s unable to stop it. She falls onto her knees.

“Ladybug!” Luka cries, from the other side, fighting alongside Alya.

“I will deliver my judgement only after you have spoken,” Princess Justice declares.

“I am…Chat Chevalier is my biological brother. I am…not anyone of importance. Hardly anyone outside of my friend circle knows me. It’s not like other cases or anything.” The words come spilling out of her, now that she’s begun to speak. “I have anxiety, professionally diagnosed. I’m here anyways. My brother helped a great deal with that. And every day, I throw away the chance to tell my best friend that I want to be her lover too. And yeah, I’m a lesbian. One last truth — Marinette, I have always believed you.”

Ladybug  _ is  _ her genuine self. Ladybug and Juleka are one and the same, so it doesn’t need to be part of her confessions. She rises to her feet. “So what judgement do you have for me?”

“You never said,” Princess Justice responds. “You must pay for your silence. Hand over your Miraculous, or I will cut them off your ears myself.”

Juleka looks around the battlefield. There are more butterflies and less people, so she has to capture them before they become  _ seriously  _ outnumbered.

“Adrien, now!” she hears Luka command, and she kicks Princess Justice away from her.

“Second Chance!”

Princess Justice clambors to her feet.

“Lucky Charm!” Juleka declares. A crystal ball falls out of the sky. “Looks like this’ll forecast your defeat, Hawk Moth!”

(She makes a point to direct her blame at Hawk Moth — and never the people he akumatizes. They don’t deserve to be blamed for their emotions.)

“Where’s Queen Verity?” Alya asks, which is not the greatest decision considering Princess Justice can  _ hear  _ them, but it is a valid question.

Juleka had almost forgotten about her, too. There is a red string dangling from where Princess Justice possesses a belt, for some strange reason. She’s willing to bet the belt is where the akuma is hidden — it doesn’t fit with the rest of her outfit, and there’s a pouch on it that seems extra suspect. Princess Justice plucks the string, and the heroes gawk as Queen Verity flies towards them. Juleka purifies a few more butterflies, trying to get as many as she can. She backsprings over to her team, joining them so they all stand facing Princess Justice and Queen Verity, the last vestiges of Hawk Moth’s attack.

She looks at the crystal ball.

“We don’t have much time,” Adrien warns.

“I know.” The impulse to take off her earrings still rings in her head, but she’s tamping it down, at least for now. Juleka takes a deep breath. “I know.”

And then she swirls the ball around, next to her ear.

There’s a liquid inside of it.

And then she remembers — bolt of lightning.

Sometimes, the best approach is simply the most direct.

She goes to lob the ball at Princess Justice, but Adrien subtly shakes his head, so she lobs it at the approaching Queen Verity instead. But the ball falls flat and shatters on the ground. Adrien’s hand creeps towards the bracelet, but Luka stops him, and in everyone’s shock he calls “Cataclysm” and destroys the string connecting the two akumas, picking up a shard of the shattered crystal for some reason. He’s seeing something she isn’t.

An akuma comes out of the thread, and Queen Verity turns back to Marinette’s mother as she catches it.

“No!” Princess Justice shouts, but the mask appears over her, and she dodges out of a zap.

The loss of that connection seems to be driving Princess Justice to become more manic. She keeps firing at Juleka — Juleka doesn’t understand it, she doubts another zap will do anything. There’s still an itch in the back of her mind to take her earrings off, an itch she won’t indulge. Something she  _ can’t  _ indulge.

“We only have a little time,” Adrien warns. “We gotta lose the princess.” He seems slightly sad about that, but…

Juleka picks up a shard and tosses it. It hits Princess Justice’s pouch directly. She merely seems inconvenienced by it, plucking the shard out.

“You can’t resist this for long, Ladybug. Tell me who you are!”

Juleka starts diving away, but Princess Justice isn’t aiming at her anymore, she’s  _ predicting  _ where Juleka is going to be. Luka jumps in front of her.

“Well, knight, I suppose I should have expected that of you. Speak.” Princess Justice tilts his head up with her sword. “I charge you with…passivity.”

“I am afraid for my little sister. She always fights so hard, and the only reason I keep fighting is because she does. I’m not a hero. I’m not…guided by morality. I’m guided by my desire to keep her safe, and in doing so help the city.” Luka’s ring beeps. “She’s the reason why.”

Princess Justice seems to ruminate on that for a bit. “Chat Chevalier, your confessed lack of conviction makes you  _ guilty.”  _ The sword sends a pulse into him. “You have been sentenced to surrender your ring.”

He fingers it, and Juleka knows that compulsion; it runs deep within her, as well, whispering in the back of her mind.  _ Take them off, take them off, take them off… _

And she knows that the temptation must be even harder to resist because he loves Marinette, even if this is some kind of twisted version of her, made by the akuma.

“Marinette,” he says simply, still kneeling at her feet. And then he rips the pouch with his claws.

Juleka sees the opportunity, and snatches the butterfly.

Marinette stumbles, and Luka catches her.

“It’s okay. But…I have to go,” he tells her, and Juleka looks at the others. They all seem a little uncomfortable. It’s not a moment they should be seeing.

“Rena, you haven’t used your power, stay with her,” Juleka orders. “The rest of us have to go before the magic runs out.”

It feels strangely empty.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> May or may not be more than three chapters. I'll get through the third and see how it goes, how much more I need to finish this story in a way that's (hopefully) satisfying.

**Author's Note:**

> Follow me on Tumblr @beunforgotten (writing) or @alto-tenure (main).


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